On October 2, 2024, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) released the 2023-2024 Food Surveillance Survey Report. The survey was carried out between July 2023 and January 2024 and sampled a total of 1,025 food products, with food samples purchased from national supermarkets and smaller independent retailers, and tested the samples for the presence of unlabeled allergens, contaminants, adulteration, inaccurate ingredients or incorrect labeling. The key elements were as follows:

1. Unlabeled allergens were detected in less than 2% of the 180 food samples tested for allergens.

2. 390 samples were tested for authenticity, including meat and meat products, herbs and spices, coffee, pasta, cheese, coconut oil and olive oil. Over 97% were reported as authentic and 3 were reported as inconclusive.

3. 470 samples were analyzed for composition. Of the 250 samples of meat and meat products analyzed for composition (including pork sausage, ready-to-eat foods (chicken, beef and lamb), canned meats, beef burgers and raw frozen chicken), 13% were non-compliant. Olive oil compliance increased significantly year-on-year (75% in 2022. 87% in 2023), with only 10 olive oil samples failing to meet the appropriate ingredient characteristics.

4. 40 samples of frozen raw chicken were taken, of which 40% (16) were non-compliant due to undeclared or excessive water addition and labeling issues.

5. A total of 24 frozen beef burgers were sampled. 42% (10) of the frozen beef burgers were non-compliant, of which 8 samples contained meat content lower than the declared value and 4 samples contained fat content higher than the declared value.

6. A total of 710 food labels of food products were inspected and 11% were found to be non-compliant.